Hyderabad revenues will go to Telangana: Jairam

Hyderabad: Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh Thursday said the revenues from Hyderabad would go to Telangana state after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh formally takes effect.

He told reporters here that while Hyderabad would serve as common capital of Telangana and Seemandhra for 10 years, the revenues from the city would go to Telangana.

According to officials, the IT and business hub contributed over Rs.34,000 crore to Andhra Pradesh's total revenues of Rs.70,548 crore during 2012-13.

Jairam pointed out that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced six-point package in parliament for Seemandhra to protect its interests. Seemandhra will enjoy special category status for five years and will get Rs.50,000 crore from the centre during the period.

He said central government would execute Polavaram project across Godavari river with 90 percent funds.

Claiming that Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill was "completely constitutional", he denied the allegations that the state was bifurcated for electoral gains. He pointed out that the demand for separate statehood to Telangana was there for 60 years and that consultations were going on for 10 years.

The minister alleged that BJP wanted to derail Telangana. "BJP which said in Lok Sabha that the bill is constitutional, suddenly discovered in Rajya Sabha that it is unconstitutional," he said.

Defending the move to handover powers of maintaining law and order in Hyderabad to the governor, he argued that it is constitutional.

Stating that he would continue as MP from Seemandhra, Jairam said his effort would be to bring together the two states politically, administratively and emotionally.

Stressing the need for reconciliation and cooperation between the two states to implement various provisions in the bill, he said the prosperity of one state depends on prosperity of the other.

Jairam said it would be a matter of pride for Telugu language that when National Development Council (NDC) meets next there would be two chief ministers speaking Telugu. "There is no other language other than Hindi in which two chief ministers speak," he added.

When asked about the appointed day or formation day of Telangana state, he hinted that there could be a gap of three months between notification date and appointed date as was in the case of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand.

He said two boards would be constituted for sharing of river waters and the centre would nominate chairmen and members for these boards.

He said while taking a decision July 30 last year, Congress Working Committee (CWC) had made it clear that it is a tough and painful decision and that Telangana will not be at cost of Seemandhra.

Jairam said the language used by Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, YSR Congress chief Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy and Telugu Desam president Chandrababu Naidu against Congress president Sonia Gandhi was not dignified. He reminded Naidu that TDP had given in writing to the central government that it is for creation of Telangana state.